


Unexpected love

by RhiD29



Series: Where you belong [1]
Category: Women's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/F, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-05 16:41:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11582049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhiD29/pseuds/RhiD29
Summary: Naomi and Elliot need a foster home. Caroline and Julie wants to start a family.





	1. Naomi

**Author's Note:**

> French is my mother tongue, so if something makes no sense, feel free to comment to tell me and I'll correct it  
> On that, I hope you'll enjoy

Naomi got home with her school bag full of homework for the weekend. Her teacher noticed she had done only half her work during the whole week and asked the 6-year-old kid to complete them for Monday. The girl had asked her some explanations, as she couldn’t read yet. Only some syllables here and there, sometimes words, but not enough to understand the instructions of the homework by herself. Her mother never helped, not even reading the instructions, and her daughter never told Ms. Jessie, who had left a note in the kid’s diary. Like usually, the mother won’t read it.

Elliot was sitting in front of the TV. It was a French channel. He didn’t speak the language, but was still fascinated by _T’es où Théo?_   Naomi sat at the table and started her work when her mom came back from her bedroom.

              “Naomi, go draw somewhere else, I need to use the table.”

The girl tried telling she wasn’t drawing, but the look of her mother kept her from arguing. The stuff she did was always more important anyway. Apparently, that was what brought them food on the table, but to Naomi, it was just things to smoke that smelled so bad that other students were mocking, because her clothes would smell it.

She went in the living room and sat on the floor sighing. If only her mommy could listen to how her children were feeling or what they needed. Naomi could see the other kids going out of school and cuddling their parents, going to the park, receiving tons of love, and she was having none of it. She was a bit jealous of the attention they had, and was envying. The only time she has someone’s attention was when she moved too much in class or wasn’t paying attention, and the teacher would scold her. Like at home!

She tried finishing the first work she had to do. There were images and she had to write the word under. She had done only half on Tuesday, but she couldn’t remember if _doll_ had one or two L and how to write _juice_.

              “Mom, could you help me out with my homework, please? I don’t know the spelling of certain words.”

              “I am busy, Naomi, you’ll copy on someone else’s Monday morning in the bus or find the answer in your stupid head!”

The child looked at her copy. It was always the same thing. Either she would be called stupid, or she was supposed to know it because it was her who was in school! Her mom didn’t care about her daughter’s difficulties, what Naomi should know or not, or what she was learning. She didn’t go to the parents meeting, even if the teacher left her a note that she wanted to have a word with her. Naomi doubted it was about her behavior so she didn’t insist when her mom told it was a waste of time to meet Ms. Jessie.

Elliot disturbed his older sibling.

              “I’m doing homework, go play somewhere else!”

              “Want to color!”

“Great, he wants to color the draws from my homework”, thought Naomi. She gave him a blank sheet and some pencils instead. He was only three years old, there was no way he would blot her work!

She got back on her work while her little brother was coloring next to her. After an hour, she had only done half what she had to do. Elliot was watching her, he seemed interested in learning how to read. The letters his sister was writing was fascinating him and he wanted to know the meaning of it. Their mother was still at the table, and didn’t look concerned about her kids, and didn’t even bothered asking if they wanted to eat. Nothing new there, they would have to complain for hours before she’d make something that will resume in a sandwich.

It was seven something (Naomi could only read the small hand of the clock yet) when her mom decided to take out her stuff, dress the table and prepare dinner. As meal: bread and cheese. Elliot was falling asleep on his meal because it was very late for him. After dinner, they went to bed. Their mommy didn’t tuck them in, didn’t wash them or checked if they had brush their teeth. Naomi fell asleep quite late, as she had a bad impression that something would happen.

She was awoken by her mother who entered loudly in their room. She also woke Elliot up and told them to get up. She had her phone in hand, and took Elliot from her free hand.

              “Hurry up, I will get you at someone’s home, I don’t want you to be here when he’ll come over!”

Naomi wanted to ask her who she was talking about, and where they were going, but her mom’s panicked and serious face made her think it wasn’t the right time. Walking in the kitchen, she saw it was passed 10 o’clock.

She got them out of the apartment and knocked at the neighbours’.

              “I hope someone’s there…,” Naomi heard her mother whisper.

The door opened on a white woman with black hair falling a bit under the shoulders. She was even taller than Naomi’s mom, and was very muscular, which wasn’t reassuring the child. The woman had a t-shirt written _Canadiennes_ on it. She looked at the mother, then stared at the kids. The mother told her:

              “Hi, I’m the neighbour and I have to go out tonight for some hours. As I’m new in town, I don’t know anyone who can take care of them right now. Would it bother you to do so? I know I don’t know you but I will pay you well and I can do whatever you want in return…”

She was almost begging her. Naomi didn’t get why her mother made them go out of bed if she wanted the woman to look after them. Why didn’t her mom knocked at the door while letting them sleep? It didn’t feel necessary for the young kid to wake up and beg the woman…

The white woman asked how long the mom would be gone, and how much she’d pay her. By her staring, she didn’t seem to get why the sleepy children were still awake at that hour. She was looking at the time, and looked back to her apartment like there was someone else inside and she had to check on him or have approbation before giving an answer. When Naomi and Elliot’s mom answered $12 per hour for about 3 hours, the woman accepted.

The mother gave $70, almost ran inside the apartment while letting the kids in the corridor before locking her in. Naomi looked at the woman. She was not reassured at all, especially being left with a total stranger.

              “She wanted you to come in _our_ apartment?” she asked the older child before saying something in French, and screaming to someone named _Chuey_.

              “What is going on? Who are those two cuties?” an Asian woman said going to the door to see what was happening. Naomi was surprised the woman was Asian, like Elliot and her.

              “70 dollars to look after the both of them for three hours. The mother locked her door to me, we install them in our guest room?”

 _Chuey_ approved with the head before asking the kids names. Elliot was so shy he tried to hide behind his sister. He couldn’t stop yawning.

              “Ok, time for bed! I’m Caroline and this is Julie. Come in, we will show you where you will sleep. If there’s anything, don’t hesitate to come see us, and in case we are sleeping, you can wake us up without any problem,” said the white woman.

The Asian, Julie, told Caroline she’d stay awake until the mother comes back, as Caro had her Celebration the next day and had to be top shape. Julie was just arbitrating. Naomi was wondering what was the celebration they were taking about, but fell asleep before having the time to ask a single question.

Naomi woke up at the sound of screams coming from another room. It was the voice of a man. Was someone screaming at their nanny? She hid under the bed, too scared to go out of the room. She heard the voice of Elliot. He was looking for her. He joined her and she cuddled him. She wanted to cry, she was in the apartment of people she didn’t know and had no idea of what was going on. She was terrified.

              “I want my stock, I’ve wait enough!”

              “That’s all I have. Take it! The rest will be for next week.”

              “It’s always the same with you!”

Naomi heard a big noise she couldn’t identify, then a slamming door. And nothing. The guest room door opened some minutes later. It was Julie. She turned the lights on after some seconds.

              “Naomi, Elliot, where are you? You don’t have to be scared, go out of where you are hiding.”

Naomi hesitated to go out, but Julie decided to check under the bed first.

              “The noise scared you, right? I know, I didn’t like it either. Do you want to go to sleep with me?”

Naomi nodded, and Julie tried drying their tears. Then, she took their arms and took them in the room just aside. The bed was more comfortable. Caroline wasn’t there, she was talking on the phone in French in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T’es où Théo? is a tv show for children in Quebec province.


	2. Caroline

Caroline was woken up by a worried Chuey. The first thing she did was to check the time. Has the mother not come back? No, it was 11:13, there was nothing to worry about for that. Were the children sick? Elliot had cried a lot before she went to bed… Maybe Julie didn’t know what to do to calm him down or had no patience anymore?

Screams came from the neighbour’s apartment finished waking Caro up. Who was it? It was clearly a man…

              “A man entered in the children’s apartment. The mother opened, I was curious and I looked from our door… She was still there, I have no idea why she let us her kids. It is weird. And it’s screaming since a moment, I feel like it’s a dope affair. I do not like it at all.

It explained why the mother wanted to let them her kids. Julie’s theory made sense to Caroline, as a drug smell sometimes came out from the floor. There had been two moving in during the month, so she had not identified who it was yet, she would have complained to open the windows at least.

They heard a gunshot. Caroline immediately took her cellphone to call 911.

              “Chuey, go calm the kids, they must have woken up with the gunsot!” she ordered to her fiancée.

She went to the guest room as Caroline was describing the situation to the police. She was scared to see the state the mother would be in. She was hoping the shooter would only injure her. She wanted to get there to help her out, but she was scared the shooter would come back. She would never put her life in danger for a neighbour she didn’t know, no matter if her children were at her place or not!

The police were already close, and informed Caroline after a dozen of minutes that they had arrested the fugitive man, who was armed and had a good amount of dope. The ambulance would be there about five minutes later. She was scared it’d be five minutes too late. She walked to Julie. She was now in their room with the two, and was trying to make them sleep. The poor kids were terrorised by the noise they had heard. Caroline hoped they didn’t know what it was, but maybe they had make the link.

              “Shh… it’s over, you are safe with us now… shh…” Julie said to the children before to take them in her arms. Caroline would have joined and share the moment, but decided to go to the apartment next to hers. After all, the mother’s life might be in danger, and she had first aid course, she might be able to help waiting for the ambulance to come.

She came in the other apartment and looked everywhere searching for the woman who had knocked at her door two hours earlier. She found her lying on the ground next to the table. Her shirt was red from the blood, principally at the chest. The shooter hadn’t miss her at all, and after checking out, the woman was dead. The ambulance got there just after her and didn’t have the choice to make the same conclusion. She tried keeping her calm, but it was hard for the woman. What was going to happen to the kids?

The police got there and asked her what she heard, to have more details. They wanted to have enough proof against him to go to court. She hoped he’d end up in prison.

Caroline helped them as much as she could, and cooperated. She had studied in policing in college, and criminology at university, so she had a good idea of the work they had to do.

              “The woman has two kids. She probably knew she was in danger, she woke them up to let them to me, and lied about having to go out. They are still with us; my wife is putting them to sleep right now. They woke up with the noise.”

The policeman looked at Caroline and asked her if she knew a member of their family where they could go. She couldn’t do other things than saying no. She asked if he had to ask them questions. She didn’t want to wake them up again, poor them! She knew they’d wouldn’t sleep if they had no idea where they’d live. Well, if she had their age, she wouldn’t have slept!

The police told her after a phone call that a social worker would come the next day to announce them the news and discuss with them about their family. They would do their research before the meeting to find grandparents, uncles, etc.

She was relieved that she didn’t have to announce them the bad news. She wouldn’t have find the right words to explain them. She was shaking just to think about it. She went in their room and looked in their drawers to pick clothes for them for the next day, and came back to her apartment.

              “Chuey, a social worker will come tomorrow. Can you stay here with them, or you prefer that I stay here too?” she asked her girlfriend.

The Asian looked at her fiancée hesitating, but with an interrogative look at the same time. Caroline whispered in case the children would not be completely sleeping. Naomi was without a doubt asleep, but for Elliot, Caroline was not 100% sure. Because he was younger, she thought he wouldn’t understand what she’d say, but she kept her voice down anyway.

              “We couldn’t do anything for her…”

              “Oh my god… that’s terrible… who will take care of…”

              “That’s why someone will come tomorrow, Julie. I told the policeman we could keep them for the night. I didn’t want to wake them up again and have to tell them about tonight’s events. When I told him we could be foster parents since some weeks, he was convinced we wouldn’t hurt them and were able to take care of them until tomorrow morning. But with the celebration that I organize and coach, I don’t know what to do…”

Julie told her fiancée she prefers that she’d be there for the meeting, but understand that she couldn’t be absent from the celebration, as it has Caro’s name and the kids expect to see her. She proposed to call her if anything happens. They will find them family, right? Caro replied that she hoped they would find family to them. She knew they were living in Montreal for just some weeks, but the woman must have correct friends and family.

Caroline hugged her girlfriend, who was still rocking Elliot. The poor child had barely slept. Not so long after his mother let him to the hockey couple, he started having stomach ache, and spent an hour crying, letting Julie and Caroline desperate by moments. They felt helpless. Caroline went to bed after about half an hour, on Julie’s order, but Julie had let her know that Elliot had fallen asleep just before the man killed his mom.

Julie put the kid in bed, and Caroline followed with Naomi in her arms. The Quebecer was proud she had not woken her up. They all went to sleep, it was 1 AM. Caroline was waking up at 5 to prepare for her hockey camp. She didn’t like letting her girlfriend alone to deal with what had happened, but she didn’t have the choice. How can Caroline Ouellette be absent from _Caroline Ouellette_ Celebration?

When she woke up, she immediately went in the other room. The two children were still sleeping. “Perfect,” she thought. Elliot had not woken up during the night. Caroline prepared herself for _work_. When she was coaching, she didn’t have the impression of working, as she really enjoyed it.


	3. Julie

Julie woke up when Caroline kissed her before going for Raymond-Bourque Arena. It was almost 7 AM.

              “Are they awake?” she asked her fiancée.

Caroline shook her head. The American decided to make herself coffee. She had no clue of what to expect from her meeting, the only thing she knew was that she had to be fully awake. She was hoping the social worker would speak English and not just French, because if Caro had spoken that language with the cops, her knowledge of French was resuming in “ _Bonjour_ , _s’il vous plait_ , _je t’aime_ and _je suis_ _fière_ ”.

She finished her coffee before she heard sound from the guess room. She went in. She wanted to give those kids a little bit of love, knowing the news would terrorize and worry them. When she opened the door, Naomi was playing with her little brother. She ran to the adult when she saw her.

              “Julie! We are still her? Cool! Is Caro here too?”

The American froze. Naomi clearly liked her. She surprized herself wondering if her mom was giving them some attention and love in enough quantity, because she felt like Caroline and her had not given that much. Yes, they had done their best to comfort them, but that was it. Naomi didn’t seem to want to return in her own apartment, and Julie wasn’t sure of how she was supposed to handle it. Caroline and she had always wanted children and that was the reason they had done procedures to become foster parents. She was thanking god that they had succeed, and knowing two kids they didn’t know were already attached to them like that…

She proposed the kids to eat.

              “Eat? But we just woke up, it’s not lunch time yet! I’m not hungry,” Naomi said.

She asked the little girl if she eats before going to school. As she thought, the answer was no. The six-year-old child started running everywhere in the apartment, she had to move. If Julie had known the time of the meeting, she would have gone to the park, but she had to wait instead.

She played with the kids. An hour later, as they were eating some cereals, they heard noises from the neighbours’ apartment. The police were probably there to collect proofs and evidences. Not so long after, there was a knock on the door. Julie opened. It was the social worker.

              “Hi, you must be Ms. Ouellette? I am Jessica Desrochers, the social worker. I came here to talk to Naomi and Elliot Wong.”

              “Actually, I’m her fiancée, Julie Chu. Caroline organizes and participates in a big event this weekend and couldn’t stay here.”

She sat at the table and presented herself to the to Asian kids. She told them the bad news. When she said they’d never see their mom again, Naomi said,

              “Can we stay with Julie and Caroline? I love them more that mom, because at least, they play with us and take care of us, even when we don’t feel well.”

Ms. Durocher was taken by surprise by the girl’s answer. Even Julie didn’t expect it. She knew the kids appreciated Caroline and her, but she was discouraged to know the mother didn’t care much about her children wellness. They were too young to understand the signification of what Ms. Desrochers had told them, and didn’t get what hat happened. Julie didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing.

The woman asked Naomi if she had uncles, aunts or grandparents who could take care of them. The girl’s answer was no, between two bites of bread. Her grandparents were _in heaven_ and her mother was an only child. The social worker told the player that the father’s name wasn’t on the birth certificates.

              “Can we stay with Julie and Caro? Please, they are very good moms.”

Julie’s heart melted there, and she knew that Caroline would have thought the same thing, “Aww”. But at the same time, she knew she couldn’t propose anything without her presence. She wanted to tell the social worker they could foster them, but… it was not something to take lightly, especially on the spur of the moment and without the woman she loved.

              “Did the mom had a testament, or indicated someone to take care of them? A godmother or godfather?” she asked instead. They must have someone to take care of them, like a mother’s friend or something, right?

              “Yes. They both have the same godmother, but we are not able to reach her out right now. I currently have people at her research, to find where she lives and if she can take the legal custody of the children. Because Naomi doesn’t know anyone, I must give them a temporary foster home until we find the godmother. It shouldn’t take very long, some days at worse.

Julie asked to the social worker if she could make a call before she go away with the two Asian children. She knew they were attached to Caroline and her, and if it was for only some days… she didn’t want them to go from a family to another for no reasons. She took her phone and clicked on her girlfriend’s number.

              “Hi Julie, it’s Kim. Caro is busy right now. Is it something important? Weren’t you supposed to be at the arena too?”

It was the voice of Julie’s old teammate with the Montreal Canadiennes, Kim St-Pierre. She immediately asked if Caro was _that_ busy, or if someone else could take her place for some minutes. Julie absolutely wanted to talk to Caroline. Ms. Desrochers had other things to do that wait after her.

Caroline took the phone as soon as Kim told her who was speaking. The first thing she asked her fiancée was where the kids would go.

              “Apparently, they have a godmother, but they can’t reach her for now. They have no clue on where she lives or her phone number to inform her about the recent events. They’ll go in foster home for a few days, until they find the godmother.”

Caroline asked if they were gone. Julie instantly smiled. She had hopes. After some minutes of discussion, the French Canadian said, “If it’s only for a few days… we can take care of them, right? A friend is arbitrating for you right now, I’ll ask her to do it tomorrow too. I think we can organize ourselves, what do you think?”

Julie was relieved to hear such things from her fiancée. They both decided if it was the good thing to do. It was true that Caroline was in a rush, but Monday, they’d return to their usual routines and she’d have more time to give to the children, in case the searches takes more time. Julie was hoping for the kids that it wouldn’t, because she didn’t want to give them false hopes and make them think they’d stay with Caroline and her. Naomi seemed to want that they all become a little family, but Caroline and Julie couldn’t have the legal custody if they had a godmother named to take care of them.

Julie finally hung up with Caroline, and talked to the social worker. Like Caroline had done the night before to the cops, she explained that they could be foster parents. She proposed to take temporary the children. It was useless to give them a new foster home, they were already trusting the two hockey players and liked them. Caroline had found a referee for the celebration to replace her for the morning, she was confident she could replace for the rest of the celebration. Julie had to do a conference in the afternoon, but Caroline thought they could bring Naomi and Elliot and the Quebecer would watch them during the American presentation. Julie wasn’t sure if the idea was that good, because Naomi moved a lot and she doubt that she’d stay sit to listen. At the same time, she was going to school, she was probably able to sit for an hour.

The social worker left. Julie undressed the table and put winter clothes on the kids. It was time to go to the park, Naomi was just asking to run! The adult played tag with them and then Naomi played with other kids as Julie was watching. Elliot stayed with the woman, who noticed he was more timid that she thought. There was an ice rink where some kids where playing hockey and Naomi urged to go. Julie couldn’t help but smiling by seeing the kids playing the sport she had a career in. She was not only playing with Les Canadiennes de Montréal, she was also coaching Concordia University, because the hockey league was not paying yet its players. She also had been on the USA national team for fifteen years and went to four Olympic Games. Like Caroline, in fact, but it’s the Quebecer who had gotten the gold… each time! Caroline was also one of Julie’s assistant-coach with the Stingers.

Naomi was having more that fun playing hockey, and Julie was playing with the toddler not so far from the ice, looking at the older sibling times to times. Elliot suddenly stopped playing and started complaining.

              “My tummy hurts…”

Great, it was starting again, Julie thought. She called the oldest to come over. She wanted to come back to the apartment.

              “It’s not fair! I want to continue playing, I don’t want to go back home! Why does he always have stomach ache when I have fun?”

Julie explained it wasn’t Elliot’s fault, and she preferred going home. She had forgotten how 6-year-old kids could be centered on themselves! What Naomi said was concerning her a bit.

              “Does he often have stomach ache?”

              “Almost every two or three days, sometimes it’s even four times during the same week…”

It didn’t feel normal to Julie. There was clearly something going on with Elliot.

              “Has your mom ever gone to the doctor to check on Elliot and finding out what causes this pain?”

              “No! She didn’t care at all! She let him cry alone until pain was gone… it’s usually after eating that it starts.”

She immediately thought about a digestive problem, and tried thinking about what he had eaten in the morning. Bread, milk and jam was mostly it. She asked Naomi what he had eaten the day before, as he had had a stomach ache during the night too.

              “Bread and cheese,” was the small girl’s answer. From the tone of her voice, she was still pissed at the adult.

It all clicked in Julie’s head. It was probably an intolerance. She just had to know if it was lactose of gluten. She was just hoping she was right, and it was not something major. She decided she had to try avoiding lactose, and then gluten, one at the time, to see if it was that. If his stomach aches stopped, the hockey players would adapt the meals to what he can eat or not.

Once the group were at the apartment, Naomi finally stopped sulking and started to draw on the table. Ok, Julie had promised her to return playing hockey the next day with her if she was a good girl. There was a Try hockey session at Caro’s camp, why not taking her there? She just had to behave well until tomorrow morning. Julie had the impression she had bought her, but at the same time, making her try a sport might be the best thing for that limit hyperactive kid.   

Julie rocked the younger one trying to calm him down like she had the night before. It didn’t take long to realize her mistake: he reacted by vomiting all over her. Clearly, breakfast was not going to pass. Being the only adult with Elie and Nao, Julie had to wait for him to be ok before being able to change, and it was disgusting her.

Time was flying and the conference was in less than an hour. Elliot didn’t seem to feel so much better, so Julie called Caro desperate.

              “Call mom. We can’t bring him if he’s sick. I would take care of him too but I also have a conference…” Caroline said.

The American dialed her mother-in-law’s number. It was André who answered. The woman was a bit scared of what he’d say. She had never told her fiancée, but her father-in-law was a bit grumpy. She was sure he wouldn’t like that they took children home, especially during the celebration. She asked to talk to Nicole, thinking she’d have more chances of a positive answer.

              “She is at the arena. I went home only to get something, and I’m going back.”

Nicole and André were volunteers in in arenas, and that, since Caroline had started playing… almost 30 years before! They were known from most of our fans.

              “I didn’t see you this morning at the arena, where are you? You are not sick I hope?” the man asked.

              “No, I’m doing great. But I couldn’t go. Our neighbour was killed las night and we took her kids, because their godmother is not reachable.”

She was waiting for Mr. Ouellette’s answer.

              “And for how long they are there? A day, a week, a month?”

She explained him that Caroline and her had no idea, but it shouldn’t be very long. André asked his daughter-in-law if they were scared of getting attached to them.

              “I think it’s already too late!” Julie said laughing. “To Caro, to me and to the kids. I think they will find it harder, though. And… I’d have a little something to ask you and Nicole…”

Mr. Ouellette immediately asked if it was to keep an eye on them. From is tone of voice, he was not happy about it at all. Julie didn’t like asking such a thing to the man, especially since it wasn’t her kids.

              “Can’t you take them at the arena? We gave our names to volunteer. But Nicole and I can watch them there!”

She told him Elliot was a bit sick, and she couldn’t take him. The man refused to take care of the little boy.

              “You decided to go in this, not me. And since when you can foster kids like that? They really have no one to take care of them? They don’t have any family?”

André was far from being happy at that point. Julie decided to call his wife instead. With some luck, she’d be more receptive. She proposed herself as soon as she heard her daughter and her fiancée were fostering kids. She was touched by their action.

              “Oh no, why is it that he is sick?” was her reaction as soon as Julie told her about Elie. Once she explained her theory, Nicole was fully comprehensive and told them she was on her way. After all, she must have seen worse than a little 3-year-old boy with a stomach ache, she had been a nurse for years!

When Nicole got into the apartment, Julie talked to her for a dozen of minutes, and then went to the arena. Her conference went well and she got to meet the young players. They had many questions, from how it was to represent her country to why she had chosen Montreal as the city she wanted to play in. She didn’t tell them she had stayed in the town because of love, as Caro and she were quite discreet with this topic. Caroline had thought about making a public coming out after Charline’s some years earlier, but as she was still playing for Canada, and Julie was hoping to get recalled by USA, they were scared that both organization wouldn’t take it well. They took the decision to wait, and finally, they hadn’t really talked about it.

Julie got home to prepare dinner. She didn’t really know what the kids liked, so she decided to avoid complicated or spicy recipes. She was sure that chicken nuggets would do the thing. After all, children and vegetables…

After dinner, she played a bit with them, and then it was bath time. Julie also read them a story to make them sleep, with a bit of help from Naomi. Julie preferred spending quality time with them instead of letting them alone while she was washing the dishes. After all, Caroline was coming home later in the night, so she was having plenty of time to do it anyway. Naomi tried getting the most attention she could have. She wanted a glass of water, another story, a toy… Julie could see well that it was a kid that wanted and needed the attention.

              “Ok, Naomi, it’s enough! You go to sleep now, it’s time!” Julie said after the fourth time she got off her bed. She wanted to ask her if she was doing that with her mother, but abstained from doing so, scared of hurting the little girl.

She looked at the American and asked if she could stay with her until she was sleeping. Julie decided to stay a bit with her.

              “Why don’t you want to sleep honey? It’s late and you will be able to play tomorrow. Is there something bothering you?”

              “It’s just that I want to spend the most time I can with you and Caroline, because I like to be with you. You are so nice and I’m scared we’ll have to go away. What if the person who’ll take care of us completely ignore us?”

Julie couldn’t help but feeling pain. Poor kid. All she was asking was someone to play with her and give the attention she deserved. Julie had tried doing the most activity with Elliot and Naomi, but in fact, she had given exactly what she’d give to any kid when she was on a day off and had not too much cleaning to do! Well, ok, there was a bit of cleaning to do, but she had pushed away the moment because taking care of the children for a few days was more important to her than cleaning for the moment. To her, she had just done what any mom would have done for the kid and that was all.

She tucked the child in and started to wash the dishes. Julie was sweeping when Caroline got home. The Quebecer immediately took news from the kids, and asked if Julie had heard of the godmother.

              “I wonder that kind of person she is. I mean, no one can reach her… I hope it’s not because she is like their mother, because I’d prefer they go in foster family!” Caroline dropped, sitting on the sofa with her laptop. Julie didn’t say anything about her fiancée not helping her, as Caroline probably had a crazy day.

She mentioned her conversation with Naomi. It was true that the kids had had a weird childhood, and that Naomi was requesting a lot, but Julie thought that there were kids in foster homes who had had it more difficult and that it was not everyone who could foster them. But Naomi and Elliot, all they needed was a loving family. It wasn’t necessary to tell a social worker about being able to take children victim of physical, verbal or sexual abuse to be able to foster them. Julie thought they were the perfect children to them for those reasons. The thing was that they had done the procedures thinking they would retire before having the OK to foster.

Caroline seemed thoughtful once Julie told her Naomi was afraid of ending up with someone like her mother. After some minutes of silence, Caroline asked her fiancée to stop sweeping the floor.

              “What?”

              “I need to tell you something, Chuey. I don’t think I want to let them go. They seem to be wonderful kids, and even if I didn’t spend a lot of time with them, what I had was enough to get attached. I think I’m already in love with Naomi and Elliot, Julie. And don’t even try, I know you feel the same way, just to your tone you’re using since I’m home.”

Julie gave her the point. But she was having some reservations. They were both playing hockey. They didn’t have a good salary, as they were not paid to play and coaching Concordia Stingers was not top salary either. They had games every weekend, no matter if it was with les Canadiennes or the university. Julie asked Caroline how she would organize everything. Did she think of that at least? And where would she send Elliot during the day? Did she know any nursery? It was so expensive, and these days, people had to search one as soon as the woman gets pregnant to have a place for the baby when he gets a year old, or almost. Elliot was three, and needed a place for the following weeks. There was somewhere near Concordia University, but Julie doubts there was any places, and was afraid her whole pay would go there.

Caroline answered that she’d think about it during the night. Julie was wondering what conclusion she’d get, because she was not going to accept that Caroline asks Nicole to take care of the kids all week long. And Julie was ready mentally to raise kids, but she didn’t want to put her career aside. Doing like her friend Kim St-Pierre and not working during almost four years was definitively not for her!


	4. Caroline

Caroline’s phone rang and she looked at who was calling her. Julie Chu. The Quebecer made a sign to a teammate that she’d take some minutes. Caroline had asked the American to call only if it was important. She knew Caroline had a crazy weekend where she’d want to give her 100%.

              “What’s going on?” Caroline asked her fiancée, once out of the ice, phone in hand.

She explained that the social worker just had called. She wanted to meet both women at 1PM, and it couldn’t be at any other moment. Caroline was released that Julie was not stupid and didn’t want to disturb her girlfriend.

              “I really want you to be there but I know the time is not ideal. But the social worker refused for tomorrow morning.”

Caroline called a friend who had said she could help out at the arena. She hoped she’d be back on time for the RBC Try Hockey Session, as Julie and she wanted to bring Naomi. At least, pee-wee’s games were done, Caroline didn’t have to absolutely be there and watch everything. She wanted to choose the best players to participate at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.

Caroline was at the apartment fifteen minutes earlier for the meeting. She was happy about that, she had time to shower and play a little bit with the children.

She was playing with Naomi and some dolls when she heard the doorbell. Julie opened. They sat at the table with the social worker. Elliot was taking a nap (apparently, he was very energic that morning) and Naomi was in the living room playing calmly. It was perfect for the meeting.

              “I wanted to meet you this afternoon because we have news from the godmother. We found her… in a detox center. It means she is not able to have their custody for now.

Caroline looked at Julie. They had talked about it that morning. Ms. Ouellette also had called her daughter to tell them that if they stayed longer for more long-term that supposed, she could watch them out when the girls would be working, or during their team’s home games. Caroline was relieved because daycare was a problem. However, her mother didn’t want the players to go to other cities to play, or at least, she didn’t want to have the kids from Monday to Sunday. Caroline thought that if she was barely with them, she’d refuse taking care of them. It was not to her mother to raise them. She had thought about it, and Julie and she had made the decision to not playing away games. Caroline was only hoping that her General Manager, Meg Hewings, and the coaches would not be mad for the decision. The only weekends Julie would drive away were with Concordia Stingers, because she was the head coach of the team.

Julie smiled at her girlfriend, and the woman in front of them didn’t understand. Caroline let her know about their conversation from the night before.

              “We can take care of them without any problem. Because we didn’t have any news yesterday, we already talked about it. The children are already used to us, and we can play hockey only in Montreal instead of travelling so we can be with them as much as possible. But… if their godmother is in detox right now, will she be able to have custody in the future or she is out of your choices of foster home for them?”

              “As she is family and the designated godmother by their mother, we must consider her. We will evaluate her capacities when she’ll be out of the center, but I personally want to wait some months before possibly give her custody. We can’t predict if she’ll return into drugs, and if it is the case, we prefer they live somewhere else.”

Julie told her that living with their drugged mother had been enough for these children. She had spent more time with them than Caroline, she must have heard some things from them. The American affirmed that if she had known who was the neighbour, she would have call YPD. Caroline was horrified. What could Naomi have said to her? She realised she didn’t want to take the risk they return in this environment and started a speech trying to convince the social worker.

              “We questioned Naomi this morning on the memories she had with her godmother, hoping she could help us to know where she was. She told us she saw her only once, and she was taking drugs with her mother. She didn’t care about the children and even got mad at them and punished them severely because she had dare taking a cookie! I know it’s a kid and she might exaggerate it, but let’s say she doesn’t like the woman and I understand she doesn’t want to live with her. And will she give them more than their mother? I must remind you she didn’t care of her children’s education, but to Julie and me, it is very important and we have a healthy lifestyle. With us, they will be able to move and play sport enough, we have an healthy diet and we love cooking. They were eating sandwiches and skipping meals, they were barely going out. I’m afraid sending them to their godmother would signify going back to those bad habits. They already love us, separating them from us in 6 months or a year from now, they will be mad for sure.”

Caroline was seeing the social worker nodding at everything she said, but she had to give the godmother a chance. She ended up admitting that was a thin chance that they’d have to go away and she would make everything she can so they don’t end up with their godmother, unless something happened with Julie and Caroline.

              “I know you both had given your names to be foster home for more long-term cases, even those with adoption possibility, and you seem to want it to be the case for these two. You can have them officially for three to six months. I’ll come over in some weeks to see how things are going. Until then, enjoy the holidays!”

Caroline looked at her fiancée. They both had tears in their eyes. The children could stay with them for the next months in security.

              “I think we have some Christmas shopping to do!” Julie said, before turning pale. She ran to catch up on the social worker in the staircase on the way out. The door stayed opened, and Caroline could hear her lover asking the woman if there were any possibilities to go out of the country with Naomi and Elliot, and if it was possible for them to have a passport. With all that had been going on in the last days, Caroline had forgotten they were supposed to celebrate Christmas in Connecticut. The woman answered to change plans, but she would see if she could provide documents to make them go. Caroline wasn’t convinced by the answer she got, and had the bad impression their plans were falling apart. It was ok because they could still go into the Ouellette’s side of the family without any problem, and it would not be Caroline’s parents and sister who would be mad, but she was still disappointed. It had been two years they were celebrating in Montreal. She was sure that Julie’s family would have liked to meet Naomi and Elliot. Caroline would have preferred they didn’t have to travel for it.

The woman told Julie she’d give them the official answer later. She didn’t know if they could cross the border, and if yes, what documents they had to provide to the passport office, and then the custom. Caroline and Julie hoped the answer would be positive. Caroline looked at the woman leaving by the window and Julie got back into the apartment. The Quebecer looked at the time. The Try Hockey Session was starting in a bit. She wanted to spend some time with Elliot, but she had promised to her friends to be back as soon as possible. She also knew Naomi would like to go. If they hurried, they had the time to make it to the arena. Julie and Caroline kept an equipment in the apartment that had serve to Sophia, Julie’s niece, some years earlier. They had kept it as Sophia was the oldest niece, and she had a little sister, a brother and a cousin who could have used it too. Caroline was convinced it was the exact size of Naomi.

She disturbed the child as she was playing.

              “What do you think about going to the arena? There’s about thirty children who will try hockey. Do you want to come?”

Caroline had never seen Naomi going up as fast as she did and be that much excited. She almost ran to the door to put her coat and boots. Julie came with the youngest, who was slowly waking up from his nap. The Connecticut native wanted to be there too. Caroline’s mother was still there, she could watch them out while the players would coach on the ice.

They made it to the arena just on time. Caroline’s best friend, Noémie had a big smile when she saw her. She probably thought her friends would be more late than that, and affirmed that they got a bit late in the schedule. They had a girl less to help the kids putting their equipment on. It was true that the player was more comfortable with older kids, she was teaching in secondary school for a reason! Children were going on the ice. Caroline was happy she had dressed Naomi in the car. It made Julie laugh, as it made some memories coming back!

She finished putting the equipment on the small girls, put her skates on fast so she could join the other kids, and they put her own skates on. Julie did the same once she found Ms. Ouellette and let her Elliot. Caroline hoped he would behave well.

Marie-Philip had taken Naomi in her group when Caroline put her feet on the ice. Some faces she had seen at a Canadiennes game skated by her, as well as the kids that were on her group. Everyone of them looked impatient to start!

She looked occasionally at little Naomi, who was in Marie-Philip’s group. Most of the kids were having plenty of fun, but she was one of those who demonstrated it the most. The kids came to her foster moms times to times, and it made Caroline laugh every time.

              “You have to go back with Pou, honey.”

Watching the children having fun and trying to handle the puck was Caroline’s paycheck. There were not so much players in Quebec province, and her goal was to make the sport grow. That was the reason she was doing all those camps. Her camp success pushed her to always make more. She was almost doing it for free, but she wanted it.

The Try Hockey Session was coming to an end and children didn’t want to leave the ice. Caroline had the impression there would be some inscriptions after that afternoon. The parents at the arena were already been asking by their kids to play in a team, and Caroline didn’t get surprise seeing Naomi coming behind her.

              “I want to play in a team Caroline, can I?”

She made the kid a big smile, and affirmed she’d looked at the teams around. She was living near the arena that had seen her growing up. Seeing Naomi play in the same team that she had played in… it would be special for the gold medalist. But she knew though that for some months it wouldn’t be the same arena, as it was in renovation. How did she know that? That was the ice where Les Canadiennes were playing on, and they were going to Brossard in January, when the renovations would start. She hoped Naomi would still be with them when the arena would be free again, to see the kid’s reaction when she’d see Caroline’s name on the ice.

Caroline got back home after the third edition of the celebration Caroline Ouellette was conclude. She was exhausted from her weekend, but the kid’s faces were worth it. Naomi and Elliot didn’t seem to be frustrated about her not being home a lot, but Julie had explained them why. Naomi didn’t stop talking about hockey, from what Julie told her. Nicole Ouellette called during the evening to know when her daughter would drop the kids at her home the next day.

Caroline realised she was better talking to Naomi’s teacher to inform her about Friday’s events. She had to know what had happened. Naomi might have been an angel during the weekend, she was scared she’d realise at any time that she’d never see her mommy again. She seemed strong, but Caroline dread the moment where she’d crack. When she took the kid to school, she saw the teacher. She seemed surprised.

              “After four or five months, that’s now you decide to come? The parent’s meeting at the beginning of the year and of last month is for that.”

The hockey player explained the woman she was Naomi foster mom, and not her actual mother. The woman excused herself and gave Caroline a meeting with her at the end of the afternoon. She informed Julie about it, as it was an hour before the time she usually left the University. She was her assistant coach, so Julie was her boss in a way, even if she didn’t use her authority that much. The Quebecer also wanted the American to know about the meeting because she was the other parent. Nicole told Caroline on the phone she’d pick the kid at school while Caroline would be meeting the teacher. The daughter didn’t want Naomi to know what the women would say about her, and no one would be at the apartment if she took the bus. Caroline noted she had to go to the secretariat to inform the school that she’d go at her mom’s home after school. Nicole and André were not living far from Caroline’s, so she hoped her parents’ house was not too far from the bus usual way.

Ms. Jessie welcomed Caroline in her class during the afternoon and asked what had happened to Naomi’s parents. She talked about the events, and of Naomi. The teacher then talked about the kid’s difficulties. Julie had told her fiancée about some of them, and Caroline asked if there were things she could do to help the girl. She didn’t want to only supervise the homework, but to push her a little bit, because Ms. Jessie let her know that Naomi was late a bit from the other kids.

              “I am not surprise, Nao told me her mom was not helping her at all, and she had to figure out by herself what she had to do.”

The teacher was totally taken by surprise, and discouraged. She told the hockey player that the kid had never told anything about that, and having known, she would have explained everything and made sure she knew what to do with the homework.

              “I guess her mother never asked her to read the words she’s supposed to learn by heart?”

Caroline thought about what Naomi had said in the car that morning, “There’s some papers with words written on it, but I’ve never known what to do with it.” Caroline had not understood what the kid was talking about at that moment, but everything made sense now. She had reasons to be late on the other kids, poor girl! The new foster mom asked the teacher if Naomi had to learn every word by heart. She never had kids before, so she didn’t really know how to proceed. Ms. Jessie explained everything.

              “I am sorry if you feel like doing your September parent’s meeting all over. It’s just that I want to help this little girl as much as I can. She had a lack of surrounding that…”

Ms. Jessie told her there was no problem. Caroline couldn’t guess how to proceed, and anyway, the teacher wanted to address Naomi’s difficulties. She announced she was happy that the girl had someone to supervise homework and help her progressing. She gave the tall woman some tools to surround her, and Caroline mentally noted them.

The player thanked the teacher and walked away. It was important to her to do so. Teacher was an underestimated career, and was not appreciated for its value. To her, education was very important, and teachers were one major actor in it. They were learning the kids a lot, and if they saw difficulties and gave some tools to the parents, the least of it was to listen.

Caroline picked up Naomi and Elliot at her parents’ home. Her father opened. Caroline knew he was less at ease with Nicole’s proposition to Caroline and Julie, which was to watch the kids out.

              “How was the day?” the daughter asked after kissing her dad.

Naomi was finishing her homework and Elliot was playing in the living room. He had been nice most of the day. According to André, he had thrown a tantrum during lunch time, because macaroni was not pleasing him. So they had a little picky boy! Caroline told her father they couldn’t be perfect all the time!

They returned home and Caroline made dinner. She felt like eating Indian food, but she was scared the children wouldn’t like it. It was already enough that Elliot had barely eaten his lunch, she was not going to force him to eat something else, risking another tantrum and leaving him with nothing in his stomach!

Julie was there just in time to eat.

              “Sorry that I’m late, there’s been an accident and I got stopped. There were cars everywhere and I couldn’t turn!”

As they were eating, Julie questioned Caroline on what they were doing for Christmas. Caroline’s answer seemed simple: they’d celebrate in her family unless they can go to the United States. Her fiancée asked her how she thought she’d learn the new to the Chu. She had to admit she didn’t really think about it.

              “You didn’t tell them about this weekend? They haven’t call, even to ask about how the Celebration went?”

Julie made a sign that no, they must have thought she was too busy. Caroline thought she’d just explain everything. What could they say? It wasn’t their fault if they couldn’t cross the border! Well, in fact they had said yes to have the children, but between them and a visit to the USA, she was taking them 100% sure. The Chu could come to Montreal if they really wanted to see them all. It was not the best, but did they have the choice? The only thing Caroline hoped was that they wouldn’t be hurt by the situation, but she just didn’t have any other solution.

Julie called her parents while Caroline was reading a story to Naomi and Elliot in their room. She could hear the American raising her voice, so she closed the door. She didn’t want the children to hear what was going on, but at the same time, she was wondering what the Chu could be saying to their daughter. One sure thing: they were not very happy.

After the bedtime routine, Caroline went back in the living room to see her fiancée. She was sitting on the couch, tears in her eyes and looking at her cellphone still in her hand.

              “They don’t understand our decision. They think we prefer some kids that we’ll lose in a week or two than them… They don’t get why we wanted to be foster parents either. They think it’s just going to hurt us.”

Caroline tried to comfort her girlfriend, but she couldn’t find words to tell her. She didn’t expect such a big reaction from Miriam and Wah. She hoped her in-laws would be more comprehensives.


	5. Julie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas' coming. Will the family celebrate in Montreal or in Fairfield?

The social worker finally sent the expected message they wanted… on the morning of December 24! They finally could go to Connecticut. She sent enclosures of the documents the women needed to give to the customs, and they should be good to go. She wondered how her parents were going to react if she would go home without telling them, knowing they tried to understand Caroline and her decisions. She told her fiancée about it.

              “You know they are more upset we didn’t tell them than anything. I mean, we spend a year on two in Montreal, they are just disappointed because it was _their_ turn, that’s all! I’m sure your parents, your siblings and their children will be very happy to see us!”

Caroline still asked if they were staying in Quebec for Christmas day or if they were going to the USA. Ms. Ouellette expected them, but if Caroline told her their initial plan was going to work, maybe she’d tell them to go. Julie was hesitant. As gentle as they were, she knew Nicole and André were going to be disappointed. At the same time, she could celebrate Christmas with her parents _and_ her parents-in-law. Last time was in Montreal, they should have been going to Connecticut this time.

              “I’m calling mom, we’ll see what she thinks,” Caroline announced after some minutes of thinking.

Caroline must have spent at least half an hour with her mother on the telephone, but after five minutes, Julie knew she had given the ok for them to go. The only thing is that Ms. Ouellette wanted to make sure they would be prudent that they’d be home before the night, etc. While Caroline was phone in hand to talk to Nicole, André and even her sister Nadine who was already at her parent’s, Julie started to pack. She asked Naomi and Elliot to bring clothes, toys, etc. to make them participate. The task became a game and in less than an hour, everything was ready. Caroline took care of the most important things such as the passports and the children documents, and put the gifts in the car.

Caroline was packing the car when she ran inside. She asked Julie to join her in the bathroom and closed the door.

              “I know my parents and Nadine bought presents for Elie and Nao but… I don’t for your side of the family. If Louis and your nieces receive many gifts and that they only get one from the both of us tomorrow morning, I’m afraid they’ll get jealous, they’re so young…”

Caroline was right. Richard and Christina’s children were going to receive at least five presents each, if she counted the one from Santa. Julie called her sister to ask her if they had planned presents for her children, or since it was temporary, they didn’t make any. She told her that she was just curious, so she doesn’t guess they were coming.

              “Sophia understood when mom explained me everything that was going on and insisted that we bought them some. After all, they’ll be there for at least four or five months! But why are you asking this question, you haven’t received them yet?”

Christina asked her younger sister to go to the post office, because she had sent packages soon enough for them to unwrap them at the Ouellette. With all that had been going on in the previous weeks, Julie had not gone to the post office at all. The presents might have been there for a few days and she would have never known. The oldest of the family add that it wouldn’t have been fair that Naomi and Elliot have nothing, after all, how much time their godmother would be in detox? Christina told Julie that she could catch up the next year, if she could have the custody. Christina didn’t trust that kind of person, and she wished the hockey players the official custody of the children. Hearing that warmed Julie’s heart.

              “Mom and dad might not have told you, but they are scared you invest too much in those two kids to finally lose it all. They don’t want you to suffer.”

Julie didn’t say anything. She had already explained herself to her family saying they had done the procedures knowingly. She instead asked her sister how everyone was doing, asked if she was the only one making gifts to the foster kids, and hung up.

Caroline was dressing the kids with winter clothes. The luggage was all in the Chevrolet, and all that was missing was Julie to get ready to go. She informed Caroline to stop by the post office.

              “I hope it’s not too big, the car is full!”

Caroline was discouraged when she saw the size of the box. They had to pack all the luggage without a doubt! They could put a bag at Elliot’s feet, maybe a little at Naomi’s, and some things between the two of them to make some place for the box. Julie preferred not knowing how much it had cost the oldest to send the package, and hoped Richard and her parents’ gifts were in it too, because otherwise, she had bought a bigger gift than Caroline and her! And with kids, it wasn’t the value of the toy that counted, but practically the size of it! At least those rom her parents-in-law and Nadine were being unwrapped when they’d returned in Montreal, because there wouldn’t have been place at all for it!

They took the road in direction of the USA. Once at the customs, it was a bit long. They had to justify themselves before they let them pass. It didn’t bother Julie, she preferred it to be a little bit longer but that they checked and let them go than accusing the players of kidnapping once the other side of the border.

They had not done 10 km when Naomi asked if they were already there yet. Caroline looked at her fiancée completely discouraged. The total run, from Montreal to Fairfield, was about 6 hours. If everything went well, they’d be home at the end of the afternoon. Julie hoped it would be before the sunset. She knew the small girl had difficulty to stay sit very long, but in the first hour and half of travelling? Already? She looked at the highway exit signs to stop stretching the oldest kid’s legs.

They must have stopped about five time during the trip, including one to eat (ok, they had barely stopped that time, thanks to the drive-thru). They got in Fairfield around 4:30, after playing Disney’s Frozen soundtrack cd at least four times. Julie could swear she now knew the lyrics to _Let It Go_ and _Do You Want to Build a Snowman_ by heart.

              “We should stop to buy lactose-free milk before going home,” Caroline said when they entered in Fairfield. It was true that little Elliot loved milk, and with Christmas desserts, he would for sure want some, especially seeing other kids drinking it! How could Caroline think to everything?

She stopped at a grocery store and Caro went in. She texted some minutes later, “I forgot my American money in the car!” Julie laughed, and told her to use her Visa card. Caroline might have filled it during Christmas shopping, but it wouldn’t change anything for some dollars. Caroline came back with a 2L of lactose-free milk.

They parked at Julie’s house in the street, just behind Richard’s car. Looking at the cars in the parking lot, Christina was there too. They were going to go out of the car when Julie heard a knock on the passenger’s window. She left the car fast.

              “What are you doing here? I thought you couldn’t come?” her brother immediately screamed. He then screamed at the kids who were visibly playing outside in the snow. “Sophia, Maddie, Louis, come over, Auntie Chu-Chu and Auntie Caro are here!”

As Julie was the only one of her siblings to be nicknamed by her last name, she had inherited of this nickname from her nieces and nephew. Caroline presented the two new faces of the family to Richard, and then the nieces who had run by.

              “I’m so happy you are here, auntie Chu-Chu, I was scared I wouldn’t see you…” Sophia said. Julie was sure she would ask to go to the arena while she was in USA territory. She loved hockey as much as her aunts! Christina used to say laughing that if was Julie’s fault if her daughter loved that much sports. Julie was a bit proud of it, as to her, it was important that kids moves enough.”

Julie took Elliot in her arms and went inside. She was happy she had some pair of arms to help her out with the million of luggage in the car. She had made one trip to the house when her mother opened big the door.

              “Julie. Chu. I thought you were celebrating in Montreal?”

Julie laughed before screaming, “Surprise” and kissing her mom. Elliot was following Caroline at every step she made, as he was very shy. He was too young to help them out with the bags, but he didn’t want at all to stay inside with people he didn’t know. Christina decided to join with her mother to help taking things out of Caroline’s Chevrolet. Julie went inside with the kids who preferred staying warm than helping.

              “Want to go in your arms,” was Elliot’s first thing he said after Julie took off his coat and boots. As soon as Julie took him, he put his head in her hair like he was trying to hide. Julie’s father came laughing from the bathroom.

              “Who are you hiding from, little man?”

Elliot tried looking to the man who had just talked. But he hided his head back in his foster mom’s. She wanted to laugh, but she managed not to, scared to hurt her dad’s feelings. She had forgotten to mention how shy he was.

              “Elliot, Naomi, this is my parents, Miriam and Wah. My big sister, Christina, is the one helping Caro outside.”

Julie presented the whole family. Elliot didn’t want to approach Julie’s parents, he even looked scared of them. It was true that they weren’t little and thin. In fact, they were both overweight (Julie was being nice here), and the little boy was afraid. Maybe he was just tired too and only wanted to stay in his foster mom’s arms. Whatever, Julie decided that she wasn’t going to make a big thing case out of it and let him on her for a while. No matter if her brother was thinking he was a spoiled child!

It didn’t take five minutes for Madeline and Sophia to welcome Naomi in the family. They were already playing with dolls together in the living room. Julie took advantage of it to kiss everyone and takes the recent news. Caroline finally announced that the car was empty and got in to put most of the things in Julie’s bedroom.

Her mother asked to have some help in the kitchen. It was true that Julie loved cooking, it was a talent she discovered when she moved with Caroline. Her fiancée wanted her to help and now, Julie loved trying new recipes as much as her! She put Elliot on the ground and her nephew came immediately with some of his little trucks. For once he was the only boy! Elliot looked at his foster mommy with a worried face. He didn’t know the other child and wanted to know if it was ok to play with Louis.

              “You can play with him honey!”

They ate and played some games with the kids until it was bed time. Children were all excited, they couldn’t wait for the next morning, and the adults got a little bit more difficulty to calm them down to sleep. Richard was designated to be Santa around midnight and put under the tree all the presents the Chu had hidden. Madeline was the kind of girl to wake up in the middle of the night to be sure she doesn’t miss Santa, and that explained the tradition the family had started. They all had prepared cookies for him. Usually, Julie was excited for Christmas morning, but this year, she was even more impatient. Maybe it was because this time, she had also kids on her own?

Caroline was the first adult going to sleep.

              “Already? It’s just 9!” Christina said, on what her sister-in-law answered she hadn’t slept well the night before. Julie found that weird, as every time she had woken up, Caroline was completely sleeping. She hoped she didn’t go to bed because of embarrassment: she had spent the night burping her diner. Julie pretended to go to the bathroom, but instead went straight to her bedroom, paying attention not to fall on the mattress on the floor. She didn’t want to wake Naomi or Elliot.

              “Why are you going to bed so early? Are you alright?”

              “I… I’m just tired and I have a stomach ache. It’s probably just better that I go to sleep. I don’t have the right to?”

Julie answered that she was doing what she wanted to, and offered a massage. The American didn’t like when her girlfriend wasn’t feeling well, and hoped her gesture helped a little. With some luck, it was just that she was not digesting well, and it would just pass. After some minutes, Caroline’s eyes were shutting, so Julie tucked her in and joined her family in the kitchen.

The rest of the night didn’t go away without some laughs. Richard was something, and Julie too! Miriam had to calm her two children down many times in the evening, afraid they’d wake up the kids or Caroline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently writing chapter 8 and I realised that the kids are too gentle. If someone has an idea of foolishness Naomi or Elliot could make to upset their foster moms, please comment.


	6. Caroline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is here, and it should be magical for the Ouellette-Chu. Well, that's what Caro thought...

Caroline went to bed hoping her stomach ache and the feeling she was not digesting anything would go away. She was not feeling so well. She had tried hiding it the best she could, but she felt that it wasn’t very feasible. She didn’t want to lose her credibility, so she decided to get some rest instead. Christina seemed unhappy that she was already leaving, as they were all having fun (Caroline was pretending, though, but the rest of the group surely had fun), and Caroline lied she had not slept well. She wasn’t surprised to see Julie coming in the room after some minutes, she hadn’t believed the lie. Caroline had extremely appreciated the massage. She started to fall asleep quite fast, to her surprise. She thought she was going to turn around a lot because she didn’t feel sleepy, but finally, not at all! She fell asleep after some minutes.

Caroline woke up in the middle of the night. She had bad stomach cramps, and still had the feeling her diner was not digested yet. Great… She didn’t like it at all. She heard some noises coming from the living room. The clock indicated 12:30. Richard, or should Caroline say “Santa”. She laughed about it. If Maddie, or any other kid, woke up and succeeded going close to him, she’d see he was Asian, and that didn’t fit with the known image of Santa. But whatever, it was a tradition in her family-in-law!

She was going to fall asleep when a bad cramp suddenly hit her, and she felt the urge to go to the bathroom. She went out of the bed fast, almost falling on the mattress on the ground, and ran in the corridor. She almost bumped into Richard on her way.

              “Hey Caro, where are you going like that? Don’t tell me you are sick?”

She didn’t take the time to answer and rushed into the bathroom. She made it just in time. She waited that it was over before going back to bed. She hoped it would stay there, as she had stopped burping only some hours before. With some luck, she finally had digest and she wouldn’t end up throwing up.

False hopes! She wasn’t yet in her bed that she felt nauseous. She didn’t take a chance, and grabbed the nearest trash can, and lay down on the couch. There was no way that Julie, Elliot or Naomi, or anyone else in this house, caught that too! She only fell asleep some hours and a few runs to the bathroom later. Seriously, the flu, what a Christmas gift! She wanted to cry. What was supposed to be a magic moment was turning into a nightmare.

The sun was coming up when she woke up. Her blanket had been replaced to cover herself well. She heard the rocking chair squeaking. It must be Wah.

              “Please, tell me it’s only 5 AM and that children won’t wake up soon, so I can still sleep,” was Caroline’s thoughts, before feeling like she was going to be sick. She had just the time to grab the trash can before vomiting in front of her father-in-law.

The man stood up and made himself a place on the couch from where he could hold Caroline’s hair waiting for her to be done. She appreciated the gesture, but she was embarrassed. To add more, they were more than a dozen of people in the house, she was scared everybody would be contaminated. She wondered if it wouldn’t have been better to stay in Quebec, finally. She would have sent Julie and the kids at her parent’s house while she stays in her apartment. True that… they would all have come there to take care of her, knowing them!

She managed to get back to sleep, after turning from one side to the other. Her rest didn’t last long, though, because the kids all came running in the living room to see the presents underneath the tree. Her father-in-law tried his best to calm them down. But it was Christmas morning, how can you calm six more-than-excited children? Caroline had her eyes half-closed, and she saw Elliot, who was behind the rest of the group. He was too shy to go and look if any of the gifts belonged to him. He looked at Wah many times before climbing the couch at Caroline’s feet, and hugged his foster momma.

              “Hey little man, you aren’t looking if you have any gift? Wah told me he saw some for you, underneath the tree.”

Nothing to do, the little shy boy of the group decided he loved his momma more than presents. Caroline who hoped she’d be able to make him go away and maybe avoid giving him her virus! She even wondered if he had ever celebrated Christmas, because he did not seem to understand what was going on, and why his sister and Caroline’s nieces and nephew were all enthusiasm and couldn’t stay calm.

Sophia decided it was time to wake everyone up, so they could unwrap the presents. “Good thing, after I’ll be able to go back to bed in the room without getting disturbed, they will be all playing with their new toys,” Caroline thought.

Everyone came in the living room to unwrap their gifts. Caroline looked at the kids. But her stomach was not getting better, and she had to run to the bathroom right when Naomi was unwrapping the gift from Julie and her. She was very disappointed to miss that moment.


	7. Naomi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas morning from a 6 year-old girl point of view...

Someone tickled Naomi to wake her up. She opened her eyes on Julie’s niece Madeline. Naomi wished they were cousin, but Caroline and Julie had explained Elliot and her that they were taking care of them until their godmother was able to. Naomi wished they could just live with the women instead. She already knew them better than her godmother, even if it has been only a week or so. From the vague memories she had, Naomi didn’t like her godmother. She hoped she could never have the custody of them, so that Caroline and Julie could adopt. Naomi had overheard the Quebecer saying she was going to battle to have their custody, and Julie had told her parents that if they were going to have it, they would adopt Naomi and Elliot. The little girl was crossing her fingers.

Madeline took Naomi by the arm.

              “Come, Santa came last night! You are not curious to see your gifts?”

Caroline and Julie had talked about Christmas holiday, but Naomi didn’t want to have expectations. Her mother never offered anything for Christmas, and she felt like Madeline, Sophia, Louis and Alexandra would have way more gifts because they were true family. She still followed the others in the living room after waking up her brother.

There was a lot more presents than when they had gone to sleep. They were everywhere in the living room! Naomi immediately went to the closest with Madeline and Sophia to see to who they belonged. Those from Santa where the nearest. There was one for each child. Naomi was surprised as she never had one before. She screamed of joy. She was finally on Santa’s list, and he did not forget her!

Wah asked the children to speak more quietly, but Naomi was way too excited to do so. She noticed Elliot was not even looking for his presents. He was next to his foster mother, which was laying on the couch. What was she doing there? Noami had not noticed before that Caroline was not sleeping next to Julie when she woke up.

Sophia took Naomi by the arm and they went to every room to wake everyone. The Chu’s were unwrapping the gifts in pyjama, and the oldest kid had decided that it was now. Naomi couldn’t wait to see what Santa had given her, and if Caroline and Julie had make her one too. Naomi only went to Julie’s room to wake her up, as she didn’t really know the rest of the family.

              “Wake up, it’s Christmas” Naomi said, hugging her Asian foster mom.

She started to tickle the child, who screamed for help. She hoped Caroline would come to rescue her, but she just drew Miriam’s attention instead, and the woman joined her daughter…  

              “Stop!”

They all went in the living room and joined all the family. Everyone was there, and Elliot ad not move from an inch.

Caroline put him down and pushed him gently in the direction of the presents. She then asked him to bring one to his sister, so she could read who it belonged to. The gift Elliot gave Naomi was for Louis. It was from Santa, and it was a little truck Elliot became immediately jealous of. Naomi’s one was long and slim. Was it a hockey stick?

She unwrapped it and found a CCM stick to Naomi’s size. There was some purple on it, her favorite colour. Julie and Caroline gave her black skates, that had purple laces that fit the stick. How did they guessed what Santa was going to give her? She was going to run into Caroline’s arms because she was very happy but the Quebecer ran away. She didn’t want a kiss? Naomi was a bit insulted by her foster mother’s gesture. Julie immediately came over to hug her as tears were filling Naomi’s eyes.

              “She doesn’t feel well, honey, she probably ran to the bathroom. I’m sure she would have love to see you unwrapping the present.”

Naomi gave a little smile to Julie, and then hugged her the strongest she could. She hoped Caroline would feel better, she didn’t like seeing people being sick. And especially not in front of her, it made her want to throw up too!

She unwrapped the other presents. She received a doll from Wah and Miriam, a giant teddy bear from Richard and some make up and accessories from Christina. Elliot had some little trucks and a pack of Lego blocks. He refused to go kiss everyone and thank them when Julie asked him to. Probably because he was shy, thought Naomi. Her little brother was so timid! He didn’t want to see others, and was always after Julie, Naomi or Caroline if it was not that she was pushing him back hoping he would not catch the flu too. Elliot had not met a lot of people in his life, so Naomi thought his reaction was quite normal. The only one except them who could approach him was Louis, Christina’s son, and that’s because the boys were about the same age. Wah and Miriam was scaring the small boy. Naomi found his reaction to his foster grandparent funny, but Julie was not thinking the same. He still had to do his little tour of people, but Julie did not ask to go see everyone. Naomi found him lucky!

Caroline went back to sleep as soon as they finished unwrapping. Naomi guessed she had probably not slept well. She decided to play with the make up with Madeline and Sophia, and then to play with the dolls. She was getting along with the two sisters quite well, as one was a bit older, and the other, a bit younger than her. The only thing was when the two were fighting, poor Naomi didn’t know where to place herself.

              “I wished we were really cousins…” she said in the afternoon, while they were playing.

Their reaction was to turn to their aunt to ask why they couldn’t be. She had to explain that it was temporary for the moment, but maybe they could adopt them.

              “We’ll know more in a few months. Me too, I wished they could stay with us. Sadly, this decision is not ours to take.”

Naomi hugged Julie. Maybe if Elliot and she showed that they loved them very much and didn’t want to leave, that the woman who had talked to Caroline and Julie the other day would let them stay? If she told how her godmother was when she’d come home, how she ignored them, smoked with her mother to then laugh about Elliot and her? Her mother had asked once to keep an eye on them while she when away and she had watched the TV the whole time. She never played with them, and Naomi must have told her ten times she was hungry before she dared giving her a little snack. And she has never changed Elliot’s diaper even if he had pooped. And their mother had only come some hours later. In conclusion, their mom was not the best mom out there, but her godmother was even worse! She didn’t want to live with her at all. She was doing like it was nothing, but the kid was thinking about it a lot and it was stressing her. Caroline and Julie were way better, even if they were more severe on some things. At least, the line between what was acceptable or not was clear, and they were constant. Even her foster moms’ siblings and parents liked them! Naomi was sure that even Wah was attached to them and would be sad if they had to leave.

              “Julie, you know what I’d like the most for my birthday?”

              “No. By the way, when is your birthday, I’m sorry I never asked. Is it soon?”

              “At the end of May… the 25th? I hope to still be with you and to be able to stay. I don’t want to go to my godmother’s house. I don’t even know why she wants to take care of us, she never cares about us!”

              “Your birthday is May 25th? Well, I have to say that you’ll have to share your birthday with Caro, then! And you know we want the same thing as you do. You know what? Stop thinking about it for now, we won’t know yet anyway. If you want, at our next meeting with the social worker, I can tell her you want to speak to her? If you tell want you truly desire and tells her why, maybe she’ll take it in consideration?”

Naomi gave a big hug to her foster mom, and returned playing with the others.

The next day, Julie brought all the kids to the arena she had grown up on to play hockey. Sophia was way better than Naomi, but she still tried catching her and taking the puck from her. She couldn’t wait to play in a team so she could play and get better. Who knew, maybe one day she’d represent Canada, and Sophia the United Sates? Everyone skated or played, even Elliot, Wah and Miriam were on skates! The only one who had stay home was Caroline. She had again spent the night throwing up. She was very disappointed to miss the family skate, but they were going back to Montreal the next day, they couldn’t wait for her to feel better to go to the arena. The whole group took a family picture, and Naomi saw Julie posting it on a website called Facebook. She read what Julie had written as comment of the picture.

_Family skate/hockey Christmas 2016. Just missin Caro_ _☹_

Julie’s cellphone made a little sound some minutes later. Caroline had shared on her Facebook with a comment, “Blame it on the flu, not me! I wish I could be there…”

The family skated for an hour again before going home to eat. In the afternoon, the child played outside until Christina and the kids had to leave. Naomi was disappointed that she couldn’t play with Madeline and Sophia, and Elliot was searching Louis everywhere in the house, which made Richard laugh.

              “They are gone to their home, sweetie. Do you want to play with Uncle Rick instead?”

To Naomi’s surprise, he said yes. She decided to go to see if Caroline was awake.

              “Hey, my little bouncing treasure, did you like your day?”

              “Yes! But I would have liked that you had come with us, with would have been even more fun! And your tummy, is it feeling better?”

              “I feel less nauseous. I hope I’ll be ok for tomorrow, we have road to do. And the team Julie and I coach has a friendly tournament starting soon, so we don’t have the choice but to do it tomorrow…

Naomi gave her a kiss on the stomach. Caroline called that, “Becs à bobos partis”. Caroline kissed Naomi when she hurt herself saying that the pain would go away because of the kiss, so if Naomi kissed Caro’s stomach, she would feel better, right?

The next day, Caroline was definitely going better, and they went back to Montreal. They still had to stop a few times because she had to go to the bathroom as soon as possible. She did not feel like throwing up anymore, but she still almost pooped in her pants due to diarrhea. Julie was driving and Naomi thought she was a driving too slow. It was long and the little girl wanted to stand up. Staying sit the whole time was hard.

On their way to Montreal, Julie received a message from her teammate and colleague Karell. A team had cancelled its participation to the Theresa Humes tournament at last minute and there was missing one team. Caroline proposed to make a team with les Canadiennes players, or at least those available.

Some days later, Caroline and Julie were on the ice. Naomi had insisted to watch them play, and André had brought Elliot and her to the arena. The girls had succeeded to make a team, but their goalie was a girl that had made Quebec Pee-wee tournament on Caroline’s team the year before. And she was playing with some Olympian against universities! They also were using those jerseys… they seemed way too small for Hilary Knight to fit in.

              “Why is Knight here?” Naomi asked André, after the first period was done.

              “She had some tickets for the World junior, to cheer on USA, I think. And Caro also mentioned it has something to do with Karell.”

“Do Karell and Hilary kiss like Caro and Julie?” the little girl said. It made the man laugh, but he didn’t know the answer.

“Naomi, you know Caroline don’t talk about her teammate love stories… I can’t answer. And she’s not that close to Karell for us to know. There some I know about their romance things, but they’re Caro and Julie’s best friends, Charline and Marie-Philip.”

Naomi was curious. Charlie and Pou were in couple? With boys or girls? She asked Mr. Ouellette.

              “Charline is with Marie’s agent Émilie, and Marie-Philip… I think she broke up with Kacey last month.”

Naomi realized he named only girls. All those players were gay. She thought about it for a minute, and then said,

“Some people in my class think that girls shouldn’t be with girls. Do you think it’s wrong?”

The man made a sad face, and Naomi got scared he thought so, even if her foster moms were family.

              “Some people think so, and before I really heard about it, I didn’t know what to think. But I got used to it, I mean… I love Caroline so I didn’t have the choice to accept it, and now it’s normal to me. You love who you love, you don’t choose to be gay. She’s born loving girls and there’s nothing I could do to change it. And I wouldn’t anyway. You, what do you think? Do you mind having foster moms?”

              “I didn’t know what gay meant before they told me, I thought it was an insult for the boys. At first, I thought they were friend, so when I saw them kiss… it was weird. But I love having moms! I never had a daddy anyway, so it’s not different. And why would it have to be wrong? What can I say to my classmates to change their mind?”

The man finally smiled and was going to reply when the players came back on the ice to play the second period. Naomi got suddenly excited to watch the game and forgot about her conversation with André. She was so happy to finally see her foster moms play. Even Elliot seemed to like the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have an exact translation of "Becs à bobos partis" but it kinda means, "kiss to make pain go away". Usually, parents would kiss their children where they're injured saying the pain will stop, and the kid for an unknown reason, believe it!


	8. Caroline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline and Julie stay home while ther team play in Boston, because of a meeting with the social worker, and Naomi gets a little messy...

That Saturday morning was a bit harder than Caroline initially thought. Knowing that the team was leaving for Boston without her… That team might be the less competitive in the league, she had heard they were getting better each game. She wasn’t ready to retire yet, and she was realizing that. She was grateful that her parents were ok with letting her play home, even if it meant watching the kids while being volunteers.

But it was worth it, Caroline thought. She could foster two great children. They were not always perfect, and they sometimes let Julie and her a bit panicking and scared of making mistakes, but Caroline knew she’d be ok. Her fiancée was a good mother, and they had their parents, friends and family to give pieces of advices (not always welcomed, by the way, but still), so she knew she could manage. She had gotten to know more about her two little Asians during Christmas break, and she was completely in love. Julie and she knew that they would have their heart broken if they had to be separated from those two.

The social worker was about to come, and Caroline started being nervous.

              “What if something happens and they have to go? What if she decides that we are not good enough?” Caroline said to Julie. They had cleaned up all the apartment and the kids were calmly playing in the living room, which was miraculous from the six-year-old one. But the Quebecer didn’t know what to expect. She knew it would only be a routine visit, but she was still not comfortable with it.

It wasn’t long before the social worker came in. This time, it was a man.

              “I looked at a few things about you since I didn’t know you. I’m Jean-François, I took Jessica’s cases, she is on medical leave right now. I went through your documents and I must say I’m a bit surprised you got the ok to foster.”

Uh oh, thought Caroline. This couldn’t be good. Julie gave her a worried look. What was it, again? They had to wait so long to be able to foster, they finally got the ok, and now, a social worker was not agreeing? Really?

              “I see that you both coach Concordia university women’s hockey team. I looked at your salaries, and I thought it was a bit low… for one child, that could be ok, but for two…”

              “We are ok, money talking. We are well organized with our finances. And we still have a bit of sponsors left as we are still playing professional hockey, so we have put some money aside.”

              “That was one of the other point I wanted to discuss with you. You still play. In your files, you claim you would foster only after retiring. Plus, I heard that you were not paid to play.”

              “You probably know how it all happened so quickly, and we’re mostly at the end of our careers. We might retire in March, and if not, the league, in its five-year plan, claims that it should be paying us next year.” Julie said.

              “And I would add that none of us is going to play outside of Montreal, so we can be with Elie and Nao as much as we can. My mother is the one taking care of them when we work, so we don’t have to pay for kindergarten. Really, we’re ok.” Caroline said, hoping it could help. She didn’t want to let them go away. She always had been a fighter, and she thought her hardest fight was just about to start.

The social worker claimed he would make regular follow-ups. “If I see that financially, you don’t do well… I might take them away. I would send them to another family while we wait to see if the godmother is ready or not to have them.”

Julie and Caroline looked at each other. The kids had never asked for tons of toys and clearly, they weren’t materialists. The women could give them food, clothes and the minimum things to play with, Caroline didn’t see the problem…

The social worker then decided to check on the apartment.

              “I see that they both sleep in the same room…”

Caroline had had enough. Jessica had made the same comments the last time, less than a month before, and they had already explained, they were told it was ok, but clearly, Jessica had forgotten to write it in the files, or this man was pernickety! The room was big enough for the both of them. It was actually larger than the minimum asked for foster families (and Caroline had seen smaller rooms than the required size at friends’ houses growing up), so all this was ridiculous.

              “We have been looking for a house over the last few months, and we are searching for a three rooms house. We visited one and it’s nice. We would move out in July, if the seller don’t get a better offer than the one we gave. It will also give a chance for Naomi to finish her school year at the same school.”

“Ok, so you might be living in a house like we like, but it will be more expensive than this apartment, right?”

God, Jean-François was not letting them about the finances! Could he think about something not negative, for once? Like, are the children happy? Which answer was YES. Caroline stopped being nice at that point.

              “We wouldn’t buy a house if we couldn’t. it’s been more than six years I put money aside to buy a nice house. If I’m actively looking, it’s because I can, now.”

Caroline was pissed. The social worker really wanted them out of here or what? Where would they go? She bet it was not raining foster families! It was not like the godmother was actually being able to take them now.

The social worker finally stopped and then talked to the children, in private. It was not helping Caroline’s mood. She desperately wanted to know what question the man was asking, and what Naomi and Elliot were answering. 

He took half an hour. Caroline and Julie had more than enough time to stress. More the time flied, more they were scared of ending only the two of them at the end of the day.

He finally opened the room door. He told Julie and Caroline the kids were staying with them. Caroline and Julie were relieved, and almost surprised,

              “I was quite surprised by their answer, and I must say that they surely love you girls. Naomi asked me if you could be her moms for real. She also said she didn’t mind being in the same room than Elliot and didn’t mind at all about you being a lesbian couple. I asked her about some toys, and I noticed she is not materialist at all. She wants her favorite ones with her and a stick is her favorite thing to play with. I think it’s a good fit with you girls, finally. She told me she will start playing hockey next week, I’m not very surprised considering your job! She is a cute kid. I noticed she is calm, but Jessica had written in her notes that she was a bit of a wild child. What happened?”

              “Well, she usually moves a bit more than this, but we noticed that she is usually calmer after practicing sports or moving a bit around. Caroline and I were all in for subscribing her into sports for that reason, because she had had trouble staying sit at school and concentrate.”

He talked with the women for some minutes, and then claimed having another meeting and left.

Caroline looked at her fiancée with tears in her eyes. They were still here with them. Jean-François had completely changed his mind about the women and finally thought they were good parents. He was still going to make sure financially they’d be ok, but at least, he trusted the girls to be able to raise those kids correctly.

It was sunny outside and it was quite warm for a day of January. Caroline looked at Julie.

              “We could go at the park with them? The snow is sticky, it’s perfect to build snowman!”

Naomi was passing by when Caroline said that. She immediately was in to go. And the little girl started singing. It was only a few weeks Caroline had a daughter, and she was already sick of the movie Frozen, and even more of the songs. Why did kids always want to watch the same movie repeatedly again? Naomi was stuck on that movie, which didn’t please her moms. She was sick of Let it go way before that girl entered in her life… At least, Elliot’s favorite one was a new Disney, so for now it was brand new songs Caro could listen and learn. And him trying to sing How Far I’ll Go was priceless.

It seemed to take forever before they left the apartment. As soon as the children were ready to go outside, Elliot decided he needed to go potty. Julie took all his winter clothes off and Elliot ran by the bathroom, but he didn’t make it in time and peed in his pants. Caroline had asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom before getting dressed up and he said no, but the little boy just started to use the potty, so Caroline was not surprised that much. It was part of the process! At least, they were still home, he didn’t have to be wet during a long time before changing.

They stayed for a while at the park. They all made a snowman. Caroline helped Elliot, for who it was more difficult. At the end, it didn’t look too ugly, and they took some pictures. Caroline and Julie didn’t post them on social medias, though, as they were quite private people. They were not the ones to put their child all over their Facebook. First, it was not everyone business; second, they could lose them, and they didn’t want people to question what happened with the cute kids every minute, and finally, they both had fans on Instagram and Twitter… not. a. good. Idea. Anyway, Julie didn’t have Instagram yet, and it was totally ok with Caro! She almost used hers only for camp publicity anyway…

They went back home to eat, and drink hot chocolate. After diner, the kids played in their room while Caroline and Julie were cleaning. Caro looked on YouTube if her team’s game was streamed to watch it in the evening. She knew Naomi would want to stay up later than usual to watch the whole game, and that Elliot would want to go to bed after the first period. After half an hour of cleaning, Julie looked at her fiancée.

              “Is it me or the kids are way too silent? Do you think they fell asleep?”

Caro shrugged. Elliot always did an afternoon nap, so he was probably asleep. She was more surprised of Naomi. She decided to go check on them, maybe tuck them in.

She opened the door and was horrified by what she saw. Elliot was sleeping, yes, that was not the problem.

              “Naomi, what the hell are you doing? Where did you find that?”

The girl let go a “uh oh”. Oh, because she knew that it was wrong then and did it anyway, Caroline thought. She was furious.

The floor and a wall was covered in light blue paint. The bathroom blue. There was Naomi’s fingerprint all over the wall next to her. A total mess. The six-year-old girl was also covered in it. Her clothes, her skin, even her hair! Caroline had to take deep breath because she was really mad at her daughter.

              “Go in the bath, now!” Caroline said, before realizing she would put paint all over the hallway and the bathroom… “Wait, no, take all your clothes off and stay here.” She then screamed to Julie. “Can you take an old towel and some soap, there is a complete mess here!”

Naomi looked at Caroline with shame. She told her she was sorry. Caroline was so pissed she wasn’t sure she’d accept them yet. She knew she’d punished Naomi. Why did she have to forget the gallons of paint were in the kids room? 

Julie came quite fast, she probably guessed with Caro’s voice tone that it was serious.

Caroline screams woke her foster son up, and Caroline immediately told him to stay in the bed. If he stepped in this paint and started running in the apartment, she’d never stop cleaning it.

Julie came and looked at Naomi with knives in her eyes. She, like her girlfriend, had to try to calm down, because by the look on her face, she just wanted to yell at the girl. Instead, she dressed off Naomi and tried getting most of the paint off. Then, they went in the bathroom to clean her up. Caroline tried washing the walls and floor. It was starting to dry.

Julie then yelled at Caroline.

              “Please tell me the bathroom paint was water paint!”

              “Water paint in the bathroom, you really think so? Of course not! It’s gonna be hell to take it out!”

It took way too long to take the most of it off, and still, they might have to buy new paint for the room. Julie came after a while to help Caroline out. Naomi was slowly following.

              “I am very sorry, I’ll never touch paint again, I promise. I don’t want to leave, I’ll be a good girl, I swear!”

The little girl looked scared of Caroline and Julie. Caroline was horrified. Her little girl thought she wouldn’t want to adopt her because of that mess. Caroline heart was broken. Julie answered,

              “Naomi, no, don’t think that. We never will abandon you, no matter what you do. On that, you will of course be punished. We are frustrated, and we don’t want you to do that again.”

Caroline decided that her punishment would be to help her finish cleaning everything up, and, she wouldn’t be able to watch the live stream of Les Canadiennes game that night. The kid was not so happy, but didn’t have the choice. At first, when it happened, Caroline thought that she’d send the girl in a corner to think about what she had done, but to her surprise, she didn’t even need to do it, Naomi was so scared that she had done it before asked to apologize.

Naomi helped to clean up and then played in the living room with her brother. Caroline took Julie aside.

              “Did you ask her to apologize or she was that scared that she immediately did after her bath?”

              “I think she is always scared of going away. I wish there was something we could do, but even us, we don’t know if we’ll lose her…”

Caroline was sad. She knew it was not her or Julie that had the decision to make. She didn’t want the godmother to have custody, but it was like asking her to not become good… it was a weird feeling. Caroline hoped everything would turn well for the kids, and that she’d prove the woman couldn’t have the children, just because of the chances of going back to drugs and all.

Julie suddenly looked at her.

              “It so nice that they can play together and not fight all the time like some siblings do. I think we are lucky, even if they sometimes drive us crazy like Naomi earlier, they’re quite good kids.”

Caroline nodded, and hoped things wouldn’t change. She liked being a mom. She loved Elliot and Naomi, and she had the best woman to help her out in this crazy adventure, no matter how messy it could be at times. Letting her team behind a little bit hurt not that much looking back at it. She had her own family now. But she knew she wasn’t ready to retire. Not before March, and again, she’d see in September camp if she continues or not. Unless she and Julie decide to make the family bigger…


	9. Julie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie and Caroline moved into their first house and they're about to find out if they can adopt Naomi and Elliot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, the chapter (also planned on July 2017) was supposed to be about planning the wedding, then another chapter (summer 2018) about the wedding where Caro was supposed to be pregnant, and then a chapter with the newborn baby. As I started doubting in July/August that Caroline was pregnant, I changed it, so some parts of the chapter were written before her bump was very noticeable, but I just finished writing it. 
> 
> So this is my last chapter, I hope you enjoyed. I'm just started something on Noémie Marin, and I am looking for ideas for a Charline one. I am also translating in English (I speak French) my twin sister original story. It's about a volleyball player playing at the University of Minnesota, if someone wants to read :)

Julie looked at the work she had done in the kitchen. Caroline and she had bough a nice little house. It had four rooms, one being quite little though, but everyone had a room, plus one. They had just finished installing most of their stuff. They couldn’t rest long, because one of Caroline’s summer camp Julie was participating in was starting the next day. Caroline was finishing to unpack Naomi’s things. They were still with them, and unless things would change in the next week, they could start procedures for adopting.

The godmother had left detox the week after their first meeting with the Jean-François, the social worker, and wanted them, but he couldn’t let her before she proved herself. She had meetings planned every month and had to come to every one of them for 9 months before he would have considered her, but she had only come to the first one. It was six months ago, which meant Caroline and Julie could adopt. Julie wasn’t surprised about the godmother behaviour, she was back to drugs, and the player was also relieved that she could be 100% sure that Naomi and Elliot were not going anywhere. They had learned it in the middle of the summer.

Julie had a flashback of that first meeting with the godmother. She claimed she wanted the custody, but when Naomi met her and told her she didn’t want to go with her and suggested to let go, the woman started screaming. She didn’t want two lesbians to take the children. She insulted them like crazy, and it obviously made the little girl cry. Naomi loved Caroline and Julie, and in no way wanted to leave with that woman she hated. Especially with those insults. Julie remembered the following Monday, when Naomi’s teacher, who obviously had heard about it, let a post-it written on it, “ _I hope you’ll have the legal custody of the children, and if their godmother is like their mother (it kinda looks like it), I’ll be by your side. You’ve helped so much Naomi, she is catching up the other kids and it’s been only a month or so that she’s with you, I can’t imagine how good influence you are on her._ ”

Ms. Jessie was a great teacher, and she cooperated with Julie and Caroline a lot. She also told them that Naomi might have a ADHD. They found out she was right, and it didn’t surprise at all the hockey players.

Elliot came running into Julie’s arm, waking her a little. Him too had changed a little. He was less shy than before. If they financially could, Julie would send him to the nursery. When they went to the park, he wouldn’t hide anymore behind his moms if another kid came over to play with him. And he wasn’t scared of his grandpa Wah anymore. The man had come to visit Julie for Concordia playoffs. He watched the kids during the weekend and cheered on the team at the same time.

              “Mommy, what’s in the little room?”

Julie smiled at her little boy who was looking around. They had just finished painting the room yellow. For the moment, there were boxes in it, because they didn’t know where to put them, there were everywhere! But the plan was to turn that place into a baby’s room in the next months. Julie went with Elliot. There was some stuff that might belong to him and that they could put in his room.

She instead fell on some baby clothes that belonged to Madeline. Christina had cleaned her things and sent her little sister boxes of child and baby clothes when she overheard Julie talking about growing the family. Julie wished Christina would have waited that she was settled in her new home before sending more boxes! It seemed like they would never finish unwrapping stuff or cleaning!

Caroline came in the room.

              “Do we have ice cream? I’m craving ice cream!”

              “Uh… I didn’t buy any yesterday when I went to the grocery store… you’ll never stop craving ice cream, won’t you?”

Julie remembered the first time Caro craved that for the first time. She had gone to a creamery, and had eaten one with chocolate and candies on, and even posted it on Instagram and Facebook! Caro argued it could have been worse, like eating pogo for every meal or something.

Elliot looked at his momma.

              “Want ice cream too!”

Julie made a look to her fiancée. Really, did Caroline asked that in front of the boy on purpose, so that _she_ would have to go buy some because they’d all complaint about not having it? It was just missing Naomi!

              “There is no ice cream. If you want some, Caro, go buy yourself.”

She continued unpacking with Elliot, who started playing with whatever was coming out of the box. Caro left the minute later to go to the closest dépanneur.

Julie looked at her walking away, and wondered when she’d announce her retirement. After all, Caro had said not even a week earlier that she didn’t know if she was going to, and that she’d see in September. But they both knew she was in no way playing this year. And Caroline was 38, Julie didn’t see how she could come back after a pregnancy to play with Marie-Philip! Caroline still wanted to keep her name on the roster, but…

She then went looking for Naomi, who was supposed to unpack her things in her room. She obviously found her playing, and she didn’t say a thing: even Julie was bored!

Caro came back with ice cream and the children ran in the kitchen for it. Julie left the room after taking one last thing from a box: a picture of Caro and her on top of Mount Royal. If Julie recalled correctly, it was taken the day she proposed to her girlfriend. She remembered how scared she was of doing so, and the tears in Caro’s eyes when she realized what Julie was going to ask, ring in her hands. It was something like three years earlier, and it felt so far and so close at the same time. She remembered when her brother learned Caroline and her got engaged.

              “Have you told her about what I told you when you came out? Because if you consider it, I’d give it as a wedding gift.” Richard had said.

Julie recalled so well her coming out to her brother. She was so nervous about the reaction of her family, but Richard had let her talk, and encouraged her to continue. When she was done, he had a big smile on his face, and admitted he had doubted it for months. He then said the craziest thing he ever said to his little sister.

              “I know that you don’t talk about it now, and you are still young to do anyway, but I prefer telling you early, so you have time to think about my proposition. I know one day you’ll have a girlfriend and it will be serious enough that you’ll get married and everything. You might also want a child. I know right now you are not a kid person, but you might change your mind, or your soulmate will want one. And I know it’s more complicated as a gay person. So… when I started doubting you were into girls, I thought that I… well, if it’s her who wants to carry the baby, or that uh, you know… use her ovules… I… I could be your sperm donor. So your baby would look like both of you and… well… it wouldn’t be an unknown person, and you’d save a little money this way.”

Julie was surprised but relieved when Richard had told her that. She could have a family. But as the years passed, she had left the option aside, because neither Caroline nor she wanted to retire from hockey to have a family. That’s when they filled the paperwork to foster. But then, Caroline admitted over that the idea of getting pregnant was still in her mind, no matter how many times she tried to forget about it, and even with two at home, the feeling was never gone. The Quebecer wanted to know how it felt to have a baby kicking inside of you and all. And Julie realized that she might like having a baby, too. It was clear in Julie’s mind Caroline would deliver: it was her who wanted to know how being pregnant felt and Julie was so scared of giving birth that the whole pregnancy thing was a big no, anyway. And Julie didn’t like the idea of “shopping a dad”, so she just called her brother for a one-year earlier wedding gift.

Julie realized she was lost in her thoughts when Caroline asked why she was staring at her.

              “I was just thinking about us, our family. I’m happy with where we are in our life. And what you’re wearing is nice, and your baby bump starts to show. Be prepared to have the question during your next camps!”

Caroline smiled at her, and kissed her. Naomi looked at her foster moms and then asked if they had some names in mind. Julie looked at Caroline. They hadn’t talk about it yet. Julie knew it had to be a name with the same pronunciation in both language. The thing is that she had heard of a French one that she liked, but she was scared of how her family would say it. She had a feeling it would end with Miley, which she didn’t like that much. Well, not enough to name a daughter that way. Maybe her family could learn how to say Maélie, after all, she was able to pronounce it!

She didn’t even know why she made a big deal out of this name, she didn’t even know if her fiancée liked it! So, she didn’t say anything to her daughter, except she didn’t know how to name the baby. They didn’t even know what gender it was yet, and they had quite a lot of time anyway, right?

The phone rang, and Caroline answered. She mouthed it was the social worker. Weird, their meeting was not before two weeks. Why was he calling? Julie was concerned, but then Caroline started to smile, and then looked relieved and happy, she even started crying, and was like, “Julie, we… oh mon dieu, Naomi and Elliot, they can… she decided to change her mind, we can…” The American tried understanding what her girlfriend was saying, but she was so freaking out nothing was clear. But the tone of Caro’s voice suggested they could adopt. Julie tried calming down Caroline.

              “What is going on, what does JF is saying?”

              “We can start procedures. They can be ours. And he’ll back us on it, so he is 100% sure we’ll be able to adopt them without any problems!”

Julie did just as her fiancée and cried. Naomi, who was still next to them, jumped in Caro’s arms. Elliot looked at them, he was too young to understand. Julie simply took him in her arms and hugged him the strongest she can. They were family. Finally.


End file.
